Abbey-Roads2

Love your enemies… 

For awhile at adoration today, I was alone, except for one other woman in the chapel.  A very elderly man entered and sat next to me.  He was extremely thin and frail.  He stayed a long time, and when he left, he moved forward towards the Blessed Sacrament and made a profound genuflection.  Since he came into my line of vision, I recognized him as someone I met before.

I was so startled to see him reduced to a living skeleton of his former self.  He had been a customer of mine at my old job.  He had been the most pompous, cantankerous, and most rude person I had ever met.  I used to marvel that he was such a “devout” Catholic, a friend of numerous priests and bishops - and as he told me, a major contributor to his parish.  I honestly do not know why he despised me so much, yet he insulted and humiliated me every time we met.  Other sales associates wouldn’t wait on him, so as manager,  I always had to do it.  I went out of my way to be kind and obliging, but nothing was ever right.  And yet today we prayed together, sitting side by side in adoration.

Pray for those who persecute you…

After he left, I prayed for him ardently.  From his appearance, I recognized he is very close to death, and I told Our Lord that I was grateful for the humiliations and contempt this gentleman used to offer me, begging Our Lord to reward him generously for the way he treated me, and to forgive him any sin he may have committed. 

Suddenly it struck me;  we are going to be in heaven some day, and there will be people there who never liked us, as well as those whom we never liked, even those we may have mistreated.  There will also be people there who treated us unkindly, or wronged us in some way - even abused us or harmed us.  Yet we will be together in heaven, adoring the Blessed Trinity - together  enjoying the Beatific Vision for all eternity.

Isn’t that astonishing?

Mourning. 

A close friend of mine is really having difficulty getting over last Wednesday’s catastrophe.  First of all, I don’t think people have to “get over it” - much to the contrary - one simply cannot dismiss the loss of life and injuries, along with the sorrow and pain caused by this tragedy.  Nevertheless, my friend keeps talking about it, repeating over and over the names of those who have died, expressing great pity for the survivors, and wondering why it happened.  (He is not at all religious, so I wouldn’t bother with pious platitudes.) 

On the other hand, I’m far too cynical - even angry about it.  Of course I feel sorrow and I pray for the dead as well as the survivors.  I’m impressed, along with the rest of the city and nation at the heroism and compassion of the survivors and rescuers, but I keep thinking this whole thing could have been avoided.  In an earlier post I wrote, “it’s the infrastructure stupid!”  I reminded readers of the steam-pipe explosion a few weeks ago in NYC, which pointed to the deteriorating infrastructure in our cities.  It hasn’t exactly been a secret that our Interstate highways, as well as city roads are in need of updating, replacement, or at best, heavy maintenance.

It’s about politics and spending.

People seem to have forgotten the problems with the levy  systems in New Orleans during Katrina.  Apart from the storm, that was pretty much all infrastructure stuff.  However, until there is a disater, nothing gets done because our tax dollars are misspent on the showy things.  Short term spending for short term profits.  We build sports stadiums, bike paths, we renovate National Parks, and fund things like a Teapot museum - all because it shows and may increase revenue.  Yet the infrastructure continues to decay.  The deterioration doesn’t reveal itself until something tragic occurs - then it grabs our attention for a few news cycles.

Nevertheless, our attention span is about the length of a sit-com.  10 or 12 fatalities are simply collateral damage, we say it’s a miracle more people were not killed - and in a couple of weeks, we will forget about it.  The big focus will be to rebuild of course - commerce must go on.  The investigations will come out and people will resign or get fired, but will this change anything?  I don’t think so.  Not until the next tragedy, the next catastrophe, or the next disaster.  Hopefully they will happen in quick succession - otherwise it won’t hold our attention long enough and nothing will get done. 

Sentimental journey.

My friend’s grief, not unlike that of so many others we see on the news, is genuine.  I can’t help grow a little impatient with it however.  Unlike the attack of 9/11, these so-called accidents could have been avoided.  I’m convinced the I-35W collapse was the result of negligence by Government concerned more with a fiscal budget than the safety of citizens.  On the other hand, our politicians misuse our tax dollars, and we let them get by with it - we want our sports centers, our bike paths, along with all the other showy stuff.

What Government ends up doing is like a homeowner remodeling his house cosmetically - without reinforcing the floors, replacing the outdated wiring and plumbing, or reinforcing the foundation.  It looks okay - but is it?  I think we are a superficial, self-indulgent nation.  Towers, levies, and bridges can collapse, along with the housing market, and yet we can’t bring ourselves to believe something is wrong with the system.

Vanity of vanities.

Today’s Gospel is so appropriate for us as a nation. We are the rich man who built larger, more expansive barns to store his riches, saying to himself; “Now as for you, you have so many good things stored up for years to come, rest, eat, drink, and be merry!”  But God said to him; “You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you; and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?”  Or in our case, what is happening to them?  They seem to be collapsing before our eyes, while only a few lives are lost in the process.

The Gospel begins with a warning we all need to take to heart on several levels; “Take care to guard against greed, for though one may be rich, one’s life does not consist of possessions.”

Aside from the supernatural reality Christ is addressing here - for my purposes, and in these circumstances, it really is the infrastructure stupid.

Our Lady of the Snows.

Today is the feast of the dedication of the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome, otherwise known as the feast of Our Lady of the Snow.  Elena at Tea at Trianon has a post with links regarding the feastday and the history, so I won’t go into that in this post, except to thank her for this image of the famous icon which reposes within the Basilica.

Today is my ‘little’ brother Tim’s birthday however.  (Happy birthday Timmy!)  He lives in Germany with his wife.  They married when he had been stationed in Germany while in the Army.  After living for a short time in the States, they moved back to be close to her parents in Manheim.  He has lived there for at least 20 years now, and sadly, we have lost contact.

However, I hold him close in prayer today.  We grew up in a crazy family which was Catholic in name only.  Since I was always pious, I took it upon myself to consecrate Tim to the Blessed Virgin not long after his Baptism.  I remember the day well, presenting him to Our Lady of Mt. Carmel at her altar in our parish Church.  I prayed for her protection for him, and that she would keep him in the Church and grant him a happy death.  (I have always been primarily concerned for my family’s salvation, without much preoccupation for what happens in their lives.  I have no control over how they choose to live, and can only hope for their salvation.)

So, if you are reading this, please say a prayer for my beloved little brother.  He is 47 today.

My initial reactions. 

The very night it happened, as I watched the television coverage with a friend, in order to break the tension once in awhile, I would bring up the idea that the collapse had something to do with our failing infrastructure.  In other words, it wasn’t an “accident” in the classic sense - it was negligence - which meant it was an accident waiting to happen.   In the days since, the latest news reports tend to verify my opinion.  In fact, the evening of the collapse, Leah McLean (pictured) of Channel 5 Eyewitness News, was given a short bite of air time concerning her research into the inspection history of the I-35 W bridge.  (To my knowledge - and I watched every channel, no other local news agency even bothered with background research that evening.)

John Mason and Cyndy Brucato were anchoring the coverage of the tragedy and momentarily turned to Leah McLean for what she had - no face time for Leah, just audio.  She, within an hour or two of the collapse, came up with the 2006 inspection records which documented the structural deficiencies of the bridge.  I suddenly had that “ah-ha!” moment - because I knew I was correct in my assumption regarding negligence.  I thought McLean was brilliant to uncover this information.  The 5 News team were obviously not impressed - and the story was never aired again.  Why?

Sensationalized reporting.

That wasn’t my only problem with local media as the days unfolded.  The news stations - especially Channel 5  just kept going over and over the same angles, guesstimating the number of injured and dead.  I told my friend the night of the collapse, the number of dead will only be around 10 people - although he was with the news media, assuming 30 to 40 people.  Media always needs to sensationalize coverage - for drama and to hold viewer’s attention.

Although the local media covered the event well, every agency mostly focused upon the dramatic - but none were quite as over-animated as the Eyewitness News team journalists, who verged upon soap-opera style drama in their presentation.  On the other hand - Network news was more subdued and much more thorough in their coverage, covering angles local news agencies apparently never even considered.  In fact Drudge, along with one or two blogs had better coverage than local news.  (I don’t read newspapers, so I wouldn’t know about their coverage.  Do  people still read newspapers?) 

Network profesionalism.

Martin Bashir of ABC’s Nightline, even had more information than local media.  The focus of Nightline’s coverage came off much more polished and professional, with more in-depth stories - something the continuous coverage on local news could have easily done, since they were doing non-stop coverage as it was.  Maybe they need a new news director? 

For instance, it was on Nightline that images of the Somali woman and her baby who are still missing, first appeared - yet even the next day, our ABC affiliate,  Channel 5, never posted the Somali woman’s photo until the evening news.  While local media focused upon rescue workers and survivors, along with constant live replay of destruction footage,  those still missing and their families were largely ignored.  At the same time, the Network journalists were the people who uncovered similar information to what Leah McLean was digging up; previous inspection reports, engineering analysis, photos, etc.  Yet local news just kept up their repetitive visual shots and redundant commentary.

Face-time.

At one point in the first night’s coverage, Cyndy Brucato (pictured), who once worked for the State Government, broke into coverage, obviously excited because she contacted a friend, an expert who worked for MNDOT (or at least he had a role to play with that agency, I can’t remember) and informed the audience he would be in studio to discuss what may have gone wrong with the bridge.  As she spoke, interrupting her co-anchor John Mason, he kind of gave her what I considered a condescending look, and threw his pencil down, reluctantly allowing her to speak.  My impression was that he felt she was ‘horning’  in on his air time as lead anchor.

Channel 5 Eyewitness News can surely bring you minute to minute coverage on anything from a summertime thunderstorm with pea-sized hail, to this bridge collapse, but the depth of their coverage is often lacking in substance.  It is usually sensationalized, and often about face time for the anchors and continuous airtime for the station. - in other words, ratings and who got to the scene first.  It’s fairly well known that Channel 5 is one of the worst stations in the Twin Cities area for employment longevity - the only long-term, on air personality they have is Dave Dahl, and that is because he’s the best meteorologist in the State.

What’s in store for KSTPNews anchors now?

Surprisingly, I saw Leah Mclean only one other time in the days following the collapse, she captured some camera time while at the site of the disaster, doing a rather forgetable report.  McLean is supposed to be one of their main news anchors, but Mason and Brucato had all the air time.  (Although McLean may have wanted to be in the field rather than the studio.)

Locals may recall that in the 1980’s this same station fired Brucato because they thought her looks and delivery were too hard.  Since her stint as Press Secretary for Governor Carlson’s Administration, that experience may be what changed her luck with management. 

I may be wrong, but it seems obvious to me, as regards  John Mason (pictured), that he has been coached by stylists as regards his on camera image.  (Of course they all are.)  Over the past several months he seems to have acquired this forced smile while reading the news - or maybe it’s just me who sees that.  Knowing the reputation of Channel 5 management, he probably will not be there that much longer, no matter how hard he tries.  As for Leah McLean - I wonder what will happen to her?  She’s one of the best female anchors they’ve had since Julie Nelson - who is now at KARE 11, an NBC affiliate.  Management at Channel 5 appears to be rather chauvinistic, so if they decide to replace Mason, they are sure to do so with another man, rather than have Brucato and McLean carry the news.

Obviously, I’ve watched much too much coverage on this National tragedy.  (If time and space permitted, I’d post my critique of WCCO’s Don and Amelia - they actually make KSTP look good.)